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Broncos' Holliday uses speed to excel

Returner is weapon on special teams

By Jeff Legwold The Denver Post

Posted:
11/17/2012 10:40:18 PM MST

Updated:
11/17/2012 10:40:29 PM MST

ENGLEWOOD -- It could be any gathering, any group, any day-in-the-life moment where people try to get to know each other. And Trindon Holliday, all 5-foot-5 of him, knows what's coming. It will be the question. "So, what do you do ... ?"

"And I tell them right away, just matter of fact," the Broncos kick returner said.

And do they believe him?

"No, they always look at me right away, look down from my feet up to my head and it's always the same. They never believe me. Never, ever," Holliday said with a smile. "I tell them I play football, they always look back at me like I'm crazy. And tell them I play professional football? They look at me like 'No, no, you're not for real.'

"But I've always loved football. I've always wanted to play it. I guess it helps if you can run, helps if you're fast."

Oh, it helps all right. And in a profession chock full of some of the fastest athletes in pro sports, Holliday is overdrive fast. The next gear, the top end.

This is a football player who was an eight-time track All-American at LSU, who won the 2009 NCAA 100-meters title by leaving a field full of fast guys that included current Oakland Raiders wide receiver Jacoby Ford looking at his back -- from a distance.

He has run an electronically timed 9.98 seconds at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

"Look, some guys are fast," said Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey. "Some guys are really fast, you see that in this league.

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But some guys are like Trindon. I mean, 9.98, he is definitely, without question, the fastest guy I've ever played with. You watch him and he's just so smooth. He looks like he's jogging and he's running away from some of the fastest guys in the league.

"Those are the real fast track guys. Guys who know how to sprint, how to get the most out of what they're doing. Their neck veins aren't all sticking out, head going all over the place. They just run. And Trindon's got heart. I love the guy."

Waiver wire works

for Denver

Holliday represents good scouting and a bit of good fortune. He was waived by Houston last month because the Texans had lost Pro Bowl linebackerBrian Cushing for the season to a knee injury.

Caught in the roster squeeze, it was the fourth time the Texans had released Holliday in his NFL career with the team that made him a sixth-round pick in the 2010 draft. The Broncos put in a waiver claim, as did the Indianapolis Colts.

If Holliday's release had been a week earlier, he would be in Indianapolis. The waiver rules, where teams that have made a claim on a player are awarded that player on the basis of record, moved to this season's records the week of Holliday's release instead of the previous season's records.

The Colts were 2-2 at the time. The Broncos were 2-3, having just lost to the New England Patriots. So Holliday came to Denver.

"I'm glad," Holliday said. "I just wanted to contribute as soon as I could, to help out. I wanted to find a role, to show them I could play this game. I always want to show people I can play this game."

So far, Holliday has been a hold-on-tight, thrill-a-kick player. He has returned a total of 20 punts and kickoffs for the Broncos and already put two in the end zone -- a 105-yard kickoff return against the Bengals, the longest play of any kind in franchise history, and a 76-yard punt return against Carolina.

He's also lost a fumble, misplayed a ball the Broncos had to recover at their 1-yard line and dropped the ball too soon on the scoring play against the Panthers, a play the NFL later said should have been ruled a touchback.

"We liked what we saw from him. We thought he could help us," said Broncos coach John Fox. "He's explosive. We just see him as a football player and I think that's how Trindon sees himself."

Football came first

Holliday said he played football long before he ran track -- "My football coach in seventh grade was the track coach and thought maybe it would work out," he said -- and stopped thinking a long time ago about the first impression people have of him.

"I don't even think about my height, not at all," Holliday said. "I ran track at first just because it was something to do after school. Football was what I loved. Now, I do both."

The Broncos believe in the football side of the equation enough to have already tried Holliday in the offense -- he had two receptions, including a 15-yarder, against the Panthers last Sunday.

"I just want to help and if they think I can help on offense, I'll do it," he said. "I mean, that's Peyton Manning throwing you the ball. You always want to catch that and go. And I'll catch it and try to go as fast as I can."

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